From left: Special Collections Librarian, Carlyle Best, UWI’s Campus Librarian, Grete Pasch received the box of Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC)
documents from General Secretary of CCC, Gerard Grenado.
UWI library receives CCC documents
The University of West Indies (UWI) was gifted a rare collection of Caribbean Conference of Churches documents which will be accessible to the public through the library’s West Indian Collection (WIC).
The handing over ceremony was witnessed by former CCC associates in the conference room of the Sidney Martin Library on the Cave Hill campus, Wednesday, March 21. Former documentalist of CCC from 1971-1979, Joan A.
Brathwaite told the small audience that the project started when two former members of the CCC wrote to Canon Hatch about making a donation last year. Brathwaite explained that she was contacted by the Canon and with the assistance of the Caribbean Archives she started the process of transferring the documents to the library. Canon Hatch was given an opportunity to share some anecdotes about CCC while he served in the organisation.
“I am proud to have these memories and looking around here, it is nice to see the faces of those who were associated with us in one way or another. I hope God will bless you in the future as He has blessed you in the past,” said Canon Hatch.
Trinidadian-based General Secretary of the CCC, Gerard Grenado gave brief remarks about the symbolic importance of the handing over of CCC documents.
He said that the ceremony is occurring in the period where the region is mourning a literary icon – the late Sir Derek Walcott. For Grenado, there is a connection between the two events where the region is experiencing a growing cultural
awareness.
“This event in terms of cultural heritage and patrimony of the Caribbean is a very, very important one,” said Grenado. Special Collections Librarian at UWI, Carlyle Best expressed his appreciation on behalf of the University to Canon Hatch and CCC members for their generosity. He informed the audience that the donation is only a sample of the many documents published by the CCC and he is now faced with the task of organising all of the publications in a dedicated area of the WIC.
After the handing over ceremony, Best told The Barbados Advocate the books and other documents will be preserved in the state that they were received; highlighting the uniqueness of the CCC publications with its iconic emblem.
He also mentioned that if there is available funding, the library would seek to mount them electronically.